Display cartons



P. A. TOENSMEIER DISPLAY CARTONS Filed June 19V, 1957 Feb. ll, 1958 United States Patent DISPLAY CARTONS Patrick A. Toensmeier, Hamden, Conn., assignor to The New Haven Board & Carton Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application June 19, 1957, Serial No. 666,619

3 Claims. (Cl. 206-45.31)

This invention relates to cartons for shipping and display purposes and is concerned more particularly with a novel carton intended primarily for containing a single article, such as a bottle, and provided with an opening, through which a large part of the article `can be clearly seen. The new carton is so constructed that, despite the presence of the opening, the carton atfords excellent protection for the article, when the carton is shipped with others in the usual shipping case. At the place of sale, such as a retail store, the carton can be placed on a counter, shelf, or the like and the 'article is so fully displayed through the opening in the carton that removal of the carton for display purposes is ordinarily unnecessary.

The new carton has the form of a tube square in section and made up of front, back, and side walls hinged together. The top and bottom of the carton are provided with ap closures and a display opening is formed in one pair of adjacent walls by the cutting of a pair of panels from these walls. The panels are secured to the inner surfaces of the walls of the pair opposite the first pair in such a way that the panels bulge inwardly slightly and provide a cushioning action.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of a blank for a carton embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of a carton made from the blank of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a View in perspective of the carton.

The blank of Fig. l is made by cutting and creasing a piece of paperboard and it includes four verti-cal walls 11, 12, 13, and 14, which are alike in shape and size and are connected together in a series along fold lines 15, 16, and 17. Of these walls, those marked 11 and 13 may be considered to be side walls, in which case wa-ll 12 is the front wall and 14 the back wall of the carton. A glue flap 18 is connected to the free Vertical edge of the Wall 14 along a fold line 19, and the walls have respective bottom aps 20, 21, 22, and 23 hinged thereto. At its upper end, the wall 12 has a square flap 24 hinged thereto and flaps 25, 26 of general L-shape are hinged to the sides of flap 24 and to the upper ends of walls 11 and 13. Flaps 25, 26 have inclined crease lines 25a, 26a extending diagonally across the iaps from the upper corners of wall 12. A tuck flap 27 is attached by a fold line to the top edge of wall 14 and the ap is preferably of diminishing width toward its free end.

A pair of panels 28, 29 are cut from the adjacent walls 12, 13 and each panel extends entirely across its wall, so that the root ends of the panels are hinged to the edges of the walls 11, 14. The free ends of the panels are hinged together and the panels have median vertical weakened lines 28a, 29a, respectively. Preferably, the panels are `of increasing height from their root ends toward their connected free ends.

ln converting the blank 1li into a carton, a coating of 2,822,917 Patented Feb. 1 l, 1958l adhesive is applied to an area A extending across one' of the panels, in this case, panel 28, adjacent its free end and a -coating of adhesive is applied to an area B on wall 11 adjacent its free e-dge, the area B being of the same shape and Size as the glue ap 18. The wall 14 and the glue flap 18 are then folded inward on the lfold line 1.7, so that the wall 14 overlies the Wall 13 `and the glue ap 18 overlies the area A and is secured by the adhesive thereon to the panel 28. The wall 11 is then folded inward on fold line 15, so that the wall overlies the wall 12 and the reverse side of the glue flap 18. The adhesive on area B secures wall 11 to the glue flap and the blank now has the shape of a collapsed tube. When pressure is applied to the fold lines 15 and 17, the tube is squared and, in this action, panels 28, 29 are pulled out of the planes of the walls 12, 13, from which they were cut, by the adhesion of the adhesive on area A to the glue flap 18. In the tube, the central portions of the panels on opposite sides of the central weakened lines 23a, 29a bulge inwardly from the walls 11, 14, to which the panels are opposed, as indicated.

In the use of the carton, the tube is squared as de scribed and the bottom flaps are folded in upon one another and secured together by adhesive in the usual way to provide a bottom closure. The article, such as a bottle, which is to be shipped in the carton, is then inserted through the top opening and the top is closed. For this purpose, the ap 24 is folded inwardly and the flaps 25 and 26 are folded upon themselves along the fold lines 25a, 26a. The folding of the flaps as described results in the formation of a slot defined by the flap 24 and the inturned doubled portions of the aps 25, 26 and the top closure is completed by inserting the free end of tuck flap 27 into the slot and pressing flaps 24, 25, 26, and 27 inwardly into tight contact. This causes the tuck flap to be fully inserted in the slot, where it is held by friction and acts to hold flaps 24, 25, and 26 in closed position.

When the filled carton is packed with others in a shipping case, the articles in adjacent cartons are protected against damage by contact in that the adjacent walls of each carton, in which the opening has been formed by removal of the panels, lie in contact either with the inner surface of the case or with the walls of other cartons, which are solid and have panels aixed thereto. There are thus two thicknesses of paperboard between the articles in adjacent cartons and this is suicient to protect the articles, even When they are full bottles. The inward bulging of the panels acts to hold the article in place against shifting in the carton and the bulged panels also provide a cushioning elrect for the article.

The carton illustrated has a bottom closure rformed of four flaps turned inward and secured together and a top closure, which includes a tuck ap and can be readily opened and reclosed. It is to be understood that the top and bottom closures described are optional and may be replaced by other conventional closures, if desired.

l claim:

l. A display cart-on, which comprises a pair of front and ba-ck walls, a pair of side walls, the walls being of the same height and width and hinged together along vertical crease lines, aps for closing the top and bottom of the carton connected to the upper and lower ends of the walls, and a pair of panels cut from one pair of adjacent walls and having root ends hinged to the remote vertical edges of the remaining walls, the panels being of the same width as the walls and having their free ends hinged together, each panel lying against the inner surface of the wall, to which it is hinged, and one panel being secured to said inner surface over a narrow area extending across the panel adjacent its free end,

2. The display carton of claim 1, in which the panels are of increasing height from their root ends toward their free ends.

3. The display carton of claim 1, in which the panels bulge inwardly between their ends and are formed with 5 central vertical fold lines.

References Cited in the file of this .patent FOREIGN PATENTS 

